Sharing Strength
by Togashi Hoshi
Summary: placed 5 years after the happenings of the original Ben 10 series. This is an Au that in no way follows the new series it is paralleled in timeline only. gwenxben full summary inside. please r
1. Chapter 1 Scream Bloody Gore

Placed 5 years after the events of the original Ben 10 series this is an Au, it parallels Ben 10 alien force in timeline only. That is basically the only similarity, I wrote this story because I was utterly dissatisfied with the happenings of the new Ben 10 series. Gwen x Ben rated M because it will get more ritzy as time goes on. As always please R&R

Chapter 1: Scream Bloody Gore

Ben

"Welcome one and all this is Radio Rich reporting from the Sky Chopper. The time is five past eight, and to all you late sleepers it's time to wake up, brew that espresso and get out that door. Cuz traffic is already gridlocked all along 60 going both ways. Apparently some sort of accident has spread debris and cars throughout the eight lanes of highway. And to make matters worse a fire is raging that rescue workers can't even get close to. So did you brew that espresso yet, cuz it looks like you're going to need it today, this traffic isn't going anywhere as similar reports are coming from all off-branching exits."

The chopper's roar stopped, Radio Rich suddenly went quiet, then the only sound coming from the radio was replaced by fierce static.

"Ben get your lazy butt up, we've got a problem, there's some sort of freak accident up ahead and on three other exits!" Gwen yelled shaking Ben till he woke.

Ben stretched and opened his eyes staring blankly at Gwen; she stood to his side wearing a tight green shirt with a peace sign on it and a pair of high-water jeans. The light shining in from the window seemed to envelop her completely, giving her a semblance of radiance. Ben felt strangely awe-struck by his cousin, unable to do anything but stare on.

"Snap out of it you moron, we need a hero" Gwen degraded him

Shifting his arm so he could see his Omnitrix he exclaimed, "Fourarms can do twice as much as 2." And he slammed down the dial.

Transforming into an alien was always a rush, your senses heightened, strength, speed, intelligence, everything increased. The flash of green light faded revealing the form of Fourarms. He felt raw strength and adrenaline surge through his veins, it was truly intoxicating.

"Man I love being a hero!" Ben said joyously

"Yeah but maybe you should have thought before you transformed. You broke the Rust Bucket just by changing you tard. Man how many times were you dropped on your head as a baby." Gwen piped in insultingly.

"Sorry bout that, just woke up and everything…" he paused for a second, "anyway I'm gonna go play bulldozer and clear the land."

Ben jumped with all his might, as he soared through the air he heard Gwen's voice trailing behind him, "you don't even know where to go…" he didn't catch anything after that, but all he had to do was follow the chaos and devastation.

Which he realized there was not so much a sign of destruction, all he could see were miles of backed up traffic. Soon he found himself on his return to the ground and much to his chagrin he was heading straight towards a cluster of unmoving cars. He turned his body to land on his sides to avoid damaging any cars and braced for the impact. He crashed to the ground painfully, but recovered quickly, pushing himself up with two hands and gripping his head with his free hands.

"I think I stopped a little too quickly" he groaned shaking his head, as he did so he caught sight of large billows of smoke in his peripherals.

"I guess even losers are right sometimes," Ben chuckled as he soared towards his target.

In 3 short leaps he landed directly in a miasma of smoke. Upon his feet touching the ground a tremendous force struck his chest knocking him over. There was something heavy on his chest, and though he couldn't see anything, he could recognize the snarls of Wildmutt. He knew he had very little time until he lost his jugular, so he wrapped his two lower arms around the beasts body and intercepted a bite inches away with a solid head butt.

Still tightly gripping the beast, he forced himself up. Holding his breath he grabbed the arms of his victim and began delivering a series of swift bone-cracking head strikes. The Wildmutt began to lessen its struggle and just in time as Ben was beginning to run out of breath. He jumped again, soaring out of the smoke into clean air. In mid-air Ben twisted his body to where they would fall head first to the ground letting their combined weight drag them to the ground. A mere moment before they hit the ground Ben shifted their positions to drive his knees into the Wildmutt's chest as they hit the ground.

He felt the alien dog's ribs break under his weight, and with a final yelp it stopped moving. His time as a hero was not unlimited, he had to move on to the next site while he still had time, and according to Gwen there were three more places. But before he could go there was one last thing to do.

Noticing the gathered crowd he decided to gloat slightly, "Can I get a hand with this fire?"

Not waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question he clapped all four hands together using the Shockwave to blow away the smoke and put out the fire.

"And I'm off!" he roared launching off to his next destination.

Gwen

"Grandpa! There's no way he's going to be able to make it to all the accidents while he's still Fourarms." Gwen had been harping the same line for close to five minutes

"Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, we'll be there to help him by picking him up when he gets done." He replied, a variation of the same line he had been using during this entire circular argument.

"I just don't want him to go back to normal and end up being in over his head." Gwen explained

"Gwen we're not leaving this van, we need to keep safe, and Ben doesn't need us to distract him, and that is final." Though his voice had authority it also sounded morose.

"What's wrong with you?" Gwen asked heatedly, "You were Max Tennyson plumber extraordinaire, you feared nothing"

"It's not me I'm worried about, it's you, you can't keep risking yourself, your parents don't approve of it, they had me give them my word when I picked you up yesterday, that I would not let you endanger yourself. Besides, traffic is clearing up." He answered concentrating on the road.

Quietly Gwen tip-toed to the bathroom, she was going to help Ben and no one would stop her. She had all she needed; a mastery of most spells in her book, and a near mastery of Jeet Kune Do. The RV engine kicked back into life slowly lurching them forward, and all she had to do was pull the window up and crawl out. She jerked it up hastily not requiring silence but instead expedience. Pushing herself up and out she tumbled to the ground rolling it off and springing to her feet again.

Dusting herself off she watched the van slowly proceeding forward, "sorry grandpa, but Ben will never let me get hurt, if I get in trouble Ben will save me." She stated resolutely.

Wasting no more time Gwen began jogging towards the west branch exit, "Expeditione Intentus," she muttered.

It was a simple spell that boosted her speed and endurance to the equivalent of an Olympic champion. With her newfound speed she arrived in only 2 minutes, but as she neared she wished she had stayed in the RV. Her surroundings were utter chaos, blood streaked through the streets, bodies torn apart and strewn through the streets. Everything was too intense, the world spun around until she fell, then blackness enveloped her.

Ben

The Omnitrix had timed out, and he was now rushing towards the final spot as regular Ben Tennyson, with an increased sense of dread. He couldn't explain it other than the fact that he knew something terrible was happening, something that would affect him more than the nameless bodies of those who had been killed today. Now with his Omnitrix dial red and only a short distance to go to the final site, his sense of dread increased even more.

He looked up from the Omnitrix dial and could see silhouetted against the fire 200 or so feet ahead, a tall dark blue creature. It had large bulbous eyes a broad face and broad snout, matched with a snakelike mouth. Even from this distance he could make out several long dagger-like teeth. In its hand he held a squirming figure significantly smaller than it.

As he closed in he could further make out what it was holding it was a female with short reddish orange hair. His heart sank as his brain registered that it was Gwen, and the creature was about to take a bite out of her with those vicious looking teeth. He slammed down on the dial hoping to make it work, no reaction.

"Gwen!" he called out as he changed his pace to a dead run.

"Ben!" Gwen yelled out her voice filled with fright.

Time seemed to slow down for Ben; he continuously hit his watch still running all out. He wasn't going to make it in time he realized as the alien moved his enormous jaws over Gwen's midsection and bit down. She let out a startled cry that was muffled by blood spilling out her mouth. It let the rushing blood trickle down its chin for only a moment before tossing her aside.

Finally the watch timed back in, Ben wasted no time in changing into XLR8. An instant later Gwen was in his hands, her frail body shaking uncontrollably. She was turning cold and her skin began to turn an unhealthy white. Fear and anger flooded his senses, Gwen was dying and he still had to take care of this thing.

Carefully Ben placed her upright against a car that had not been completely torn asunder, "don't worry this guy's got about a nanosecond before he dies." Ben promised her before dashing off.

His claws were prepared and they struck true as he dashed forward burying them deep in the creature's shoulders. Ben tugged but his claws were both stuck. The alien recovered quickly, biting down, enveloping Ben's entire head. He had to get out soon or he'd be in a worse boat then Gwen. He pulled himself up by his claws and began rapidly kicking the creature's chest, after 20 or so kicks the creature opened his mouth. Ben removed his head from the creature's jaws. He then kicked the creature in the stomach with both feet to free his claws.

Ben flipped in air to land on his feet but was caught unaware by a kick to his side before he made it to the ground. The kick sent him flying for a while until he crashed into the side of a charred truck, abruptly stopping him. He looked across to the alien and noticed it was heading toward Gwen; who had fallen over and wasn't moving. Ben feared for the worst, that creature had killed a member of his family and had thusly forfeited its life.

He rushed forward until he was in jumping distance then soared into the air crossing his claws. The creatures head easily separated from his body creating a fountain of blood. Before its body hit the ground Ben had Gwen in his arms and was rushing towards the city.

He made it to the city limits before his watch timed out; the bright light seemed to stir Gwen. Her eyes opened halfway and despite her situation she smiled.

"I knew you would save me…" she hacked twice spilling fresh blood on her face, "I'm just glad to be in your arms." She wheezed out weakly

"Save your strength, we're almost there" Ben whispered more reassuring himself than her.

He continued to run on at full speed despite being worn out already. In silence he ran, the only noise being Gwen's weak coughs as she desperately tried to suck in air. All outside noise was drowned out by the sound of his blood rushing to his ears; all the while the only thought going through his head was '_it'll all be alright._'

A car horn sounded behind him that he was only half aware of. He turned to look maintaining his pace and his heart soared. It was the Rust Bucket, he stopped and so did the RV. Ben rushed to its side, where the door swung open upon his arrival. Grandpa Max was there to take Gwen from Ben's hands. He moved to Ben's bunk and set her down with Ben following behind him. His grandpa was rummaging through one of the drawers looking for something.

"Ben." Gwen called out frightened.

He grabbed her hand, "it's alright you'll make it through this." He said soothingly squeezing her hand gently to reassure her.

Grandpa Max turned around with gauze and a small vial in his hands, "take off her shirt, put this ointment on her wounds, then wrap her in this gauze." He commanded handing him the gauze and ointment.

"Are you kidding grandpa, she's my cousin, that is demented in so many ways." Ben interjected

"Ben!" he replied in all seriousness, "This is a life or death situation, do what I say or she may die!"

Slowly, reluctantly he lifted the blood soaked shirt from her body and began applying the ointment. He was surprised by how soft and smooth her skin was, but he was even more shocked by the rush he was getting touching his cousin's bare skin. He stopped rubbing the ointment in and looked into her half open eyes, honestly he had never noticed just how beautiful his cousin was, mainly because, well she was his cousin.

Ben noticed she was watching him and his cheeks flushed red. He turned his body to grab the bandages and regain his composure, when he turned back around Gwen's eyes were slowly closing.

"Ben…" she managed in little more than a whisper.

"Save your strength!" Ben interrupted.

"Ben," she said again just as weakly, "I… I don't think I am going to make it."

"Don't say that, you'll live. You will, you have to." He said desperately, tears forming at his eyes.

"There's something I need to tell you." She managed before another coughing fit which reopened her wounds, "Ben I think I love you."

Like thunder it was deafeningly loud, yet so quiet that anyone further away than him would not have heard. Everything was quiet for a second long eternity until Gwen spoke again.

"As a final request will you kiss me?"

"Gwen you're just delirious, you've lost a lot of blood and aren't thinking straight." Ben managed to choke out between the sobs that racked his body.

"Please." Gwen pleaded weakly, her eyes slowly dropping.

Ben sighed; making a tough decision despite his inner turmoil he placed his lips upon hers and rested for a moment. Gwen smiled then exhaled and her eyes closed fully. Tears fell freely down his face, fat wet drops of pain. He screamed out her name and clutched her bare chest against his body begging her to wake up.


	2. Chapter 2 Blood Bound

Chapter 2: Blood Bound

AN: Thank you to all who reviewed and now after short wait I give you chapter 2. I will try to keep updating as quickly as I can, but alas I am a lazy person so it may take a while for me to update in the future. Anyway I hope you all enjoy.

The Rust Bucket swerved to the right shoulder suddenly then stopped. Grandpa came back to where Gwen lie, moving Ben out of the way. He placed his index and middle fingers against her neck, feeling for her pulse.

With a sigh of relief he said weakly, "Relax Ben she's still alive if barely, finish dressing those wounds then see if you can go XLR8 and get her to a hospital."

Ben looked in his grandpa's eyes then nodded. He covered her from neck to the bottom of her stomach, leaving nothing bare for modesty's sake. Then he was XLR8 and out the door.

All it took was questioning one person to find out he was only 2 miles from Anderson Hospital. It took him a few seconds to get there, he had taken a wrong turn otherwise he would have been there sooner.

He dashed in the emergency entrance, broke through the glass doors and ran to the counter, "She was attacked by wild animals and has lost a tremendous amount of blood."

"One second, uh, sir?" the nurse replied with an upwards inflexion on the 'sir,' but she grabbed the phone on her desk and called in the emergency.

Within the minute a team of doctors and nurses came rushing down the hall rolling a stretcher in tow. They grabbed Gwen from Ben's arms and placed her securely on the stretcher and began to wheel her away. Ben moved to follow but one of the doctors placed his hand on Ben's shoulder

"Sorry whoever you are but you can't follow her," the doctor said unsurely.

Flexing his claws dangerously Ben replied in deadly fury, "You really think you have a snowball's chance in hell of stopping me?"

The doctor swallowed visibly, then turned and let Ben follow.

They began asking questions as they wheeled her towards the ER, "Does she have any medical allergies?"

"How long ago was she attacked?"

"What kind of animal attacked her, was it feral?"

"What's her blood type?"

"Does she have any family members?"

The questions continued on and he answered them to the best of his ability, though he didn't know if she had any allergies, nor did he know her blood type. And of course he had to fabricate the story of what kind of animal attacked her, he settled on a story of wild dogs which the doctor's didn't seem to buy.

Finally they had her in the operating room and the doctors went to work quickly. They cut the bandages with a pair of sheers then swabbed over one of the holes. One of the nurses placed the swab in a Petri dish then handed it to another nurse who went running off down the hall. With that done they began checking for internal injuries. After twenty long minutes of deliberation and examination (during which time Ben reverted to his normal form) they concluded that her organs were miraculously undamaged.

Ben continued to watch on hopefully, muttering, "She has to make it."

He didn't dare take his eyes off Gwen; she had to make it she just had to. Her cuts had already been sterilized, and they were now working on closing the lacerations. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder; he turned and stared blankly into the face of his grandpa. Grandpa Max smiled reassuringly but when he spoke he carried a level of uncertainty.

"She'll be alright boy, she's a tough little lady." But his eyes were just as transfixed on the window as Ben's were

The nurse who had previously taken the blood sample came running back, a lab report in her hands, she threw open the door and didn't close it behind her. "Doctor, I have bad news, her blood type is O-."

"Well then what's the problem?" the doctor asked still lacing up the wounds

"We're out of O-, we didn't get any on the last blood drive!" the nurse replied almost hysterically.

The doctor she was speaking to came out of the room closing the door behind him and took off his paper mask and gloves, "where'd the blue guy go?"

"Oh that guy," Ben piped up, "that was my friend, he, uh, had to run, I'm Ben, Gwen's cousin."

"And I'm Max Tennyson, her grandfather," Grandpa Max added in.

"A pleasure to meet you both," he said offering his hand to them both, "I'm Doctor Malench." With the pleasantries out of the way he gave them the bad news, "You see our blood reserves have been low as of late, not many people giving blood anymore…"

"Get to the point." Grandpa Max said angrily.

"Well, your granddaughter has a very rare blood type, one we are completely out of at the moment. As it stands she won't make it through the night." The doctor finished uneasily.

"But isn't there anything we can do?" Ben asked fervently.

"Well if you are related maybe one of you shares the same blood type." The doctor explained, he then signaled one of the nurses out of the operating room.

"Nurse take these two to an empty room and draw a sample from each of them." The doctor ordered.

The nurse nodded and led them down the hall until they hit an empty room. Ben and Grandpa Max each took a seat in a chair while the nurse grabbed what she needed from a drawer. First she did Ben; grabbing his forearm she wiped it with an alcohol pad then inserted the needle, slowly drawing out a pint of blood. After that was done she then repeated the process for Grandpa Max.

"Please wait here sirs; we should have the results in twenty minutes." The nurse explained before running out of the room.

Time dragged on but neither him nor his Grandpa dare say a word, they sat and waited. Finally twenty minutes passed and the nurse came back simply beaming.

"Good news Ben. You and you're cousin share the same blood type," she explained smiling and then went on, "She should be stabilizing soon, and barring nothing happens that is out of the control of the doctors she should make a full recovery." She stopped again letting them take in the good news, "Now you both are probably very hungry after giving blood and all. So, I would suggest getting something to eat then coming back in a few hours. Gwen should be moved to room 342 when they are done in the operating room."

Having spoken her piece, the nurse left the room leaving the door open for them. Ben and Grandpa Max slowly, dizzily, made their way back to the Rust Bucket. Ben plopped himself down on the bench by the door while Grandpa Max opened the fridge producing a large container of meal worms. Taking a seat across from Ben, he wasted no time in opening the container and beginning to chow down on them.

"Grandpa we just suffered through a life or death situation, and you pick meal worms as our meal!" Ben complained loudly.

"What do you mean, we each just gave blood and meal worms are high in protein and iron. Nothing will help you recover better." He responded logically.

Ben's stomach began to churn but he wasn't sure if it was from loss of blood or the prospect of eating worms. Sighing he grabbed a worm closed his eyes and opened his mouth. After a final minute of inner debating he dropped it into his mouth and chewed. He actually found the flavor to his liking it was kind of sweet actually. But the texture was a whole other story, a crunchy outside with a mushy inside. If he weren't so hungry he was sure he would have vomited, but in his current state he managed to eat at least half of the worms.

Something began to gnaw at him while he stuffed his mouth with worms. Gwen almost died and it was his fault, if he would have been faster, this wouldn't have happened. He was so close yet he did nothing until it was too late. It was his fault Gwen was in the hospital and Grandpa Max must think so also

Fixing his eyes on the floor he asked, "Grandpa, do you hate me?"

"What?" his grandpa asked confused, "Why would I hate you, you're my grandson?"

"Because it's my fault Gwen almost died, I should have been there, I should have been faster! Damn it I should have done something, I'm supposed to be a hero!"

Exhaling his grandpa reached across the table resting his hand on Ben's head, "Ben this is in no way you're fault, so don't beat yourself up over this, if you want to be angry at something be angry at what attacked her, or me. I told her not to leave the van but I wasn't paying attention, and she left. So this is more my fault then yours."

"I don't deserve to be a hero, not when I can't even protect my own family!" Ben replied dejectedly.

"What do you mean you can't protect us? I can't even count on 10 pairs of hands how many times you've saved me and your cousin."

Ben set his feet in the ground and looked up at his grandpa; he did not want to hear praise. He wanted to be yelled at, degraded, blamed for all the problems of the world, "those don't matter, I failed today. And what if that alien had some sort of poison in his mouth?"

"First of all Benjamin you almost failed, but you didn't, secondly it's thanks to you that she is even alive, not only did you run her to the hospital, you also gave her your blood." He stopped and picked up the vial that lie on the floor forgotten. "And lastly plumber's putty, an ointment that destroys all forms of fungus, bacteria, poison and other toxins. Also it stimulates skin cell growth in the area it is applied."

"But what if we didn't have the same blood type…" Ben spat out venomously but was cut off by Grandpa Max

"What if? Grandpa broke in, "Benjamin Tennyson, do not deal in the what-ifs. You have the same blood type and that's all that matters. Now quit feeling all this pointless guilt, quit feeling sorry for yourself and eat. I want to be in that room before Gwen is."

Without another word they ate on in peace.


End file.
